At the invitation of Councilor Nickolas Varvaris, mayor of Kogarah City Council, Consul General HU Shan attended the launching ceremony of the "Ma'anshan Friendship Park" in Kogarah.

In his speech, Mr. Hu said he was very happy to see the sister city relationship between Ma'anshan and Kogarah had developed so deeply and was widely supported by the residents of the two cities.

"The remarkable progress of the sister city relationship between the two cities is surely attributable to the great efforts by both governments and their mindful care for benefits of the people." Mr. Hu remarked.

Mr. Hu noted that the blossoming sister city or friendship city relationships between China and Australia had injected great vitality to the people to people exchanges between the two nations.

The Consul General appealed to Ma'anshan, Kogarah and other existing and would-be China-Australia sister cities to develop their partnership with a deep sense of pragmatism, friendship and mutual appreciation, to make sure the partnership is for the good of the people. Consul General Hu also pledged his full support to that development.

The Friendship Park was jointly built by Ma'anshan and Kogarah. The Kogarah Councilors had universally agreed to name it after Ma'anshan to mark the sixth anniversary of the sister city relationship.

Prior to the ceremony, Consul General HU paid an official visit to the Kogarah Council, where he had an meeting with Mayor Nickolas Varvaris, Deputy Mayor Annie Tang and other councilors. The two sides agreed to strengthen friendly cooperation between the Chinese Consulate General and Kogarah.